


Shining in the Corners

by scribblemyname



Series: Comment Fic LiveJournal Stories [207]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Community: comment_fic, F/M, First Date, First Meetings, Pining, Rare Pairings, new avengers team, post-age of ultron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 16:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4067485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/scribblemyname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Maria Hill," he stopped and greeted when she would have passed him in the hall.</p><p>She paused, fingers stilling on her report but not clenching. Surprised perhaps but without fear. "Bucky Barnes," she said coolly, then assessed his reaction with an equally cool gaze.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shining in the Corners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caz251](https://archiveofourown.org/users/caz251/gifts), [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> Prompt by caz251 at the LJ Comment Fic community: [Any, Any, hidden in the background](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/627567.html?thread=86087023#t86087023)
> 
> Also inspired a bit by my request for pairings on an amnesty trope bingo card. This doesn't fit any of those prompts, but I did think of tielan and this pairing.

She wasn't part of the picture painted by superheroes standing around, menacing and protective. She was part of the background, dark hair sinking into the shadows, arms crossed, and watching him with a steady calm that felt no need to threaten. She knew she was strong enough to deal with him without that.  
  
He looked at her past Captain America— _Steve Rogers,_ almost memory and the Smithsonian exhibit corrected. He raised his metal hand to indicate her. "Who are you?"  
  
The little one, Scarlet Witch, turned her head in surprise to look. The one he had trained and had tried to hunt him down once upon a time, Black Widow, smiled faintly to herself but kept her own eyes and weapons on the Soldier.  
  
The woman in the background raised an eyebrow. "Maria Hill. I didn't shoot you, if that's what you're wondering."  
  
He took a step back at that, confused. "We've met?"  
  
She looked at him, her own surprise open on her face. "No."  
  


* * *

Steve took him in. He found this relentless trust bewildering, and yet somehow, he depended on it. He'd expected it. He slept on the floor in front of the couch, and eventually Steve stopped sighing that he refused both couch and bed.  
  
Falcon treated him warily but with a willingness to talk he should not have had since he had ripped off Falcon's wings and knocked him out of the sky.  
  
"Water under the bridge, man. Water under the bridge," Falcon said with a smile and fed him breakfast. "If you, you know, eat that sort of thing."  
  
The asset hadn't, but he did. He ate normal food and buried his hands in hoodie pockets and let Black Widow smile at him and Scarlet Witch watch him curiously and Falcon talk to him in the hopes maybe that he'd one day be listening and Steve take care of him. Vision greeted him politely when they encountered each other. Dr. Cho maintained his arm.  
  
But in the background, there was that woman.  
  
"Maria Hill," he stopped and greeted when she would have passed him in the hall.  
  
She paused, fingers stilling on her report but not clenching. Surprised perhaps but without fear. "Bucky Barnes," she said coolly, then assessed his reaction with an equally cool gaze.  
  
 _Who the h— is Bucky?_  
  
He looked at her. To look past her would show his discomfort. To look through her would reveal weakness.  
  
"Is there something you needed?"  
  
"A drink?" The words bubbled up from something he couldn't quite remember, from before the freezes. He paused, taken aback.  
  
She softened a fraction. "Don't we all," she said dryly. "Charge it to the company tab if you like. Harry's is on the corner." Then she went on past as she had originally intended.  
  
He stayed still and watched her go.  
  


* * *

"You've got it bad," Natalia slurred in Russian slang over her ridiculous cocktail later. She had made him take vodka over American beer, and her apparently favorite brand could make an ordinary man's eyes water.  
  
He wasn't drunk though. "Can I get drunk?"  
  
She stared up at him from under her lashes. He was reminded of her youth when they'd loaned him out to the Red Room to train the newest Black Widow. She was the best, impossibly good. She would be another ghost. He had almost loved her once.  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know." Then she was smiles and ease and all the layers of pretension he knew he should never believe in. She had another Avenger who came by for missions, Hawkeye, who could see through her masks and sort out truth from lies, but it was a singular skill, and in the Soldier's mind, an unnecessary one.  
  
He downed another gulp of vodka, then shook his head and waved a gloved hand to the bartender. "Beer."  
  
Natalia muttered something derogatory.

* * *

Steve found him trying on real clothes, nice clothes that Falcon had helped him pick out. His hair was cut and he mouthed the word 'Bucky' to himself, imagining it in her mouth as he stared in the mirror.  
  
For a long while, Steve simply watched and he continued with the clothes until he picked out what he wanted and pretended he couldn't feel Steve's attention like a physical thing. This was trust. This was friends and being normal. Perhaps anyway.  
  
"She likes blue," Steve said at last.  
  
Bucky looked up, irritated. Did everyone know he liked her?  
  


* * *

She worked in the background, behind the scenes, but pulling every string that needed to be pulled with an efficiency he admired. Hawkeye or Black Widow would occasionally drop off food and conversation at her desk, and he had heard her often on the phone with a woman she called Ms. Potts, but for the most part, she remained in the background.  
  
He had chosen low-key clothes with that in mind and brought carnations instead of roses.  
  
"Maria..." He hesitated, wanting to leave off the last name, but uncertain whether that was appropriate.  
  
But she looked at him, saw the flowers, mouth opening slightly and the moment stretched too long to add it.  
  
Instinct he didn't recognize bubbled up again as he said, easily, as if he used to talk like this, "You don't get out much."  
  
Faint amusement mingled with the understated incredulous expression on her face. "I have a lot of work to do. Global security being what it is."  
  
He couldn't tell if she was just talking or shutting him down. He took a breath and tried again.  
  
"Would you go out with me? Dinner or—"  
  
"Drinks." She met his surprise with an even look, still with lingering amusement in her eyes. "In an hour."  
  


* * *

It was hard work, but she didn't press him into normalcy or make it a traditional date. He was surprised to find they talked work and the field and when he fell into silence, she let him, opting to sip her drink and describe various threats and demographics around them or falling off into silence herself.  
  
When it was over, he wasn't sure how it went. He didn't remember how to date, and despite asking Falcon and Steve and studying a bit himself, he didn't _know_ how to date either.  
  
But when he passed Maria's office the next morning, he paused for a moment. The flowers were in a vase on her desk.  
  
He hesitated then went in and asked her for a dance.


End file.
